NEW REGULATIONS PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/rr/documents/cleansb740.doc

Dear Charter School Administrators, County and District Superintendents,
County and District Chief Business Officials:

I am very pleased to inform you that new SB 740 regulations for
non-classroom-based charter schools have been approved by the Office of
Administrative Law (OAL) and are now in effect. All funding determinations
received by the Charter Schools Division on today's date and thereafter
will be reviewed and evaluated based on these new SB 740 regulations. A
copy of these new regulations and corresponding 2005-06 Non-classroom-Based
Funding Determination Forms and Instructions are posted on our Web site at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cs/as/nclrbifunddet.asp .

The new regulations establish an alternative to the existing method for
determining the pupil-teacher ratio calculations for non-classroom-based
charter schools by allowing charter schools the option of using a
statewide average pupil-teacher ratio of 25 to 1; clarify the multi-year
funding determination option; make clarifying changes to the determination
of funding request forms and calculations for the 2005-06 fiscal year and
beyond; incorporate facilities mitigation within "instructional costs" and
the base calculation; clarify certificated instructional support staff and
treatment of contracted staff used by the charter school for the
calculation; make technical changes that includes removal of language no
longer in effect; and establish policy for determination of funding
requests for non-classroom-based virtual or on-line charter schools.

All SB 740 Funding Determination forms are due in our office on or before
February 1, 2006, and are required of all charter schools whose
non-classroom-based enrollment, i.e. not under the immediate supervision of
an employee of the charter school at a school site, exceeds 20 percent of
the school's average daily attendance (ADA) at the P-2 apportionment
period, pursuant to SB 740 (Chapter 892, Statutes of 2001). Please note
that although the revised regulations establish a December 1 submission
date for new charter schools in their first year operation, this date had
already passed at the time the regulations were officially approved by the
OAL. Therefore, for 2005-06 only, the submission date for all
non-classroom-based charter schools is February 1, 2006.

A charter school is prohibited from receiving any funding for
non-classroom-based instruction, unless the State Board of Education (SBE)
determines its eligibility for funding. The law also provides the SBE with
the authority to adjust the apportionment of charter schools for ADA
generated through non-classroom-based instruction. The SBE may also make
multi-year funding determinations of up to five years in length. The SBE,
upon the recommendation of the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools,
determines whether a non-classroom-based charter school receives a
multi-year funding determination and for how long that determination is in
effect. If a charter school received a multi-year funding determination in
2004-05, it does not need to participate in the funding determination
process in 2005-06. New non-classroom-based charter schools must apply in
their first year.  Please refer to my letter of July 15, 2005 which
provides additional information on which charter schools are required to
participate in the funding determination process. This letter is available
on the CDE Web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cs/as/nclbfd05covlet.asp.

Now that the new regulations are approved, we encourage charter schools to
submit Funding Determination forms to our office as soon as possible.
Forms can be electronically submitted following CDE instructions or may
also be faxed to (916) 322-1465, with the original form to follow in the mail
to the address below.

Charter Schools Division
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 5401
Sacramento, CA 95814

Funding determination forms received by CDE on or before January 4, 2006,
will be placed on the ACCS agenda for January 18, 2006. Funding
determination forms received by CDE after January 4, 2006, will be placed
on the ACCS agenda for March 16, 2006.

For questions regarding the SB 740 funding determination process or
whether a charter school should submit a funding determination form,
please contact Keith Edmonds, Consultant, Charter Schools Division, at
(916) 327-4628, or Oluwole Olukoya, Consultant, Charter Schools Division,
at (916) 327-5929.

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